Haddington v Drummond Trinity CC 1st XI on Sat 10 May 2008 at 13.00
Drummond Trinity CC Lost by 43 runs
A dreadful day at the office for the DTs after such a good start to the 2008 season. Haddington batted first on a very warm but muggy day at Neilson Park. Imran and Manny bowled very hostile and accurate spells. Imran eventually accounting for opener Cruickshank and the Aussie number 3 to catches behind. When Jamal had skipper Prenter caught behind off his first ball the DTs seemed well on top at 20-odd for 3.Throughout their innings however, the Haddington batsmen were nothing if not resilient. Old adversary Peter Talbot steadied the ship supported by Gray. The Teach eventually bowled the latter but Talbot began to play increasingly aggressive shots. Shezhad succeeded in removing one batsman but the scoreboard ticked over. Talbot began to really hit out against Coolio and then hit successive 4s of the Teacher before missing a straight one which clean bowled him. The DTs continued to take wickets at regular intervals although Haddington never stopped going for their shots - Van Zyl playing particularly well. With an over or so to go Ewen took a straightforward catch to give Manny his first wicket and we had bowled them out for 157. On a reasonable wicket with a fast outfield this score looked slightly under par. it was a similar score to the one which was beyond us last season but to be honest the pitch and outfield seemed much more conducive to runs than in 2007.
However, 14 year old Matty Blades who opened the home team bowling had other ideas. He bowled like a veteran whilst the DTs (mostly) batted like primary school kids! First Coolio fell to an uncharacteristic top-edged pull! A few overs later Blades produced a couple of beautiful away cutters to bowl both Imran and Ewen. The DTs were in deep trouble. Jamal who was batting with an injured back, and Shez began to rebuild the innings and for a while it looked like the DTs might get on top. We weren't helped by the sprinkling of rain which certainly held up a few shots which would have been boundaries earlier in the day - but this was no excuse for our eventual capitulation. First Shez missed a short ball which didn't bounce from Fardoon and was out LBW. 60-odd for 4. Gus didn't stay long, tamely spooning a shot off spinner Cruickshank to point. For a while it looked like Manny and Jamal with a mixture of attack and defence might take the game away from the home side. In truth had this partnership yielded another 15-20 runs all the pressure would have heaped on the fielding side. As it was, Manny missed an angled ball from the returning Blades to be his 3rd bowled victim and we were 90-odd for 6 and on the ropes. When Jamal popped a catch up to mid-off from the left armer Johnson, seemingly caught in two minds, it felt decisive. Jamal had scored 48 a very decent effort compared to his team mates and considering his back. The innings then collapsed ignominiously with the last 5 wickets failing to muster 20 runs. Blades bowled 118 and Kevinio and eventually had the Teacher stumped gamely trying to protect the Cat from the strike to end with astonishing figures of 7-22.
Not much to add really - except it will require a much more determined effort with the bat all round in the rest of the season if this is not to become a poor one for the DTs.
Haddington Batting
157 for 10
| R. Prenter |
14 |
Caught |
| A. Cruickshank |
8 |
Caught |
| J. Cummings |
3 |
Caught |
| P. Talbot |
49 |
Bowled |
| B. Robertson |
22 |
Lbw |
| R. Gray |
8 |
Bowled |
| A. Johnson |
3 |
Caught |
| C. Van Zyl |
27 |
Caught |
| S. Mann |
1 |
Run out |
| Fardoon |
6 |
Caught |
| M. Blades |
0 |
Not Out |
Drummond Trinity CC 1st XI Bowling
Drummond Trinity CC 1st XI Batting
114 for 10
Haddington Bowling
| M. Blades |
9.5 |
2 |
22 |
7 |
3.14 |
2.24 |
| R. Gray |
4.0 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0.00 |
0.75 |
| S. Mann |
3.0 |
0 |
17 |
0 |
0.00 |
5.67 |
| Fardoon |
6.0 |
0 |
31 |
1 |
31.00 |
5.17 |
| C. Van Zyl |
2.0 |
0 |
15 |
0 |
0.00 |
7.50 |
| A. Cruickshank |
3.0 |
0 |
12 |
1 |
12.00 |
4.00 |
| A. Johnson |
3.0 |
0 |
6 |
1 |
6.00 |
2.00 |